Various devices have been built for discharging substances which tend to flow easily by gravity, such as grain. While devices such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,289,396 and 3,367,724 are concerned with providing "efficient discharge" of particulate material from a bulk storage tank and avoiding bridging and incomplete discharging from such tanks, these devices do not equalize the flow rate of a particulate solids and gas mixture discharged in a uniform manner from a feed vessel apparatus having multiple outlets to a pressurized receiving reactor as does the present invention.
The present invention is directed to overcoming this problem in the art.
Applicants are not aware of any prior art which, in their judgment as one skilled in this particular art, would anticipate or render obvious the present invention. However, for the purpose of fully developing the background of the invention, and establishing the state of requisite art, the following art is set forth: French Patent No. 1,519,210; U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,416,568; 4,223,044; 3,408,116; 3,306,671; 3,289,396; 3,367,724; and Jenike & Johanson newsletter dated January, 1983, Volume III, No. 1.